Isaac Bernays
Isaak Bernays, also Isaac Ben Jacob Bernays (born September 29, 1792 in Weisenau , Kurbistum Mainz ; died May 1, 1849 in Hamburg ) was a German rabbi and, along with Jakob Ettlinger, is considered one of the pioneers of modern Jewish orthodoxy .
From 1821 until his death in 1849 he held the office of rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Hamburg. Bernays was one of the first rabbis to attend university in addition to studying Jewish .
Life
Issak Bernays was the son of the innkeeper Jaques Beer from the Jewish community of Weisenau (June 18, 1747 - October 18, 1817) and his wife Marthe Wälsch. In 1808 Jacob Beer had his name changed to Jacob Bernays due to the French naming regulation.
Issak Bernays attended the cheder in Weisenau near the French-dominated Mainz (Mayence) , but also took courses at the Lyceum in the city. Herz Scheuer , rabbi of Mainz, sent him to Abraham Bing in Würzburg for further studies . In addition to attending the yeschiva , he attended the University of Würzburg , studied philosophy from 1815 and obtained his doctorate. phil. Abraham Bing was famous for his erudition:
“A large number of students flocked to Würzburg [...] to hear his learned words. Among the most important were the later Altona chief rabbi Jakob Ettlinger , the later London chief rabbi Nathan [Marcus] Adler , the Hamburg Chacham Is. [Aak] Bernays, R. [abbi] Elieser Bergmann and [...] Seligmann Bär Bamberger . "
After a job as a private teacher and further studies with Schelling in Munich , he was appointed chief rabbi by community leader Jacob Riesser to the Israelite community in Hamburg in 1821 . Bernays carried the title " Chacham " (Weiser) in Hamburg according to the tradition of the Sephardic Jews in order to distinguish himself from the Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbis.
One year after taking office, on August 28, 1822, he married Sara Lea (Henriette) Berend (1803-1853), daughter of the Hanoverian banker, teacher and inspector of the Jewish school Michael Behrend (died 1832) and his third wife Hannele Ries from Berlin. He had seven children with her.
In Hamburg, Bernays introduced German-language sermons in the synagogue . He was valued for his extensive knowledge, but his sermons were met with reservations because of their complexity.
He reformed the curriculum in the Talmud Torah School of the community. While previously only reading and writing had been taught in the Hebrew language and arithmetic , German and other secular subjects of a general elementary school were now also taught. Two years after Bernay's death, the school was elevated to a secondary school, it was the only one of Orthodox Judaism in Germany.
Despite its modernity, Bernays was Orthodox and rejected the Reform Judaism of the Hamburg Temple . When he introduced a revised prayer book in 1841, Bernays took a stand against it.
Isaak Bernays died of a stroke and was buried in the Jewish cemetery on Grindel . His gravestone was moved to the Ohlsdorf Jewish cemetery when it was closed .
The Bible Orient
There are no publications published by Bernays. The anonymous work “ Der bibel'sche Orient ”, which appeared in September 1820, is attributed to him, but the authorship or co-authorship is not undisputed.
The basic idea behind the work is a reinterpretation of the mission of Judaism for humanity, inspired by Schelling's philosophy of religion. The author draws on the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah and draws parallels between the Sephirot and the Hindu deities.
genealogy
The classical philologist Jacob Bernays and the literary historian Michael Bernays were his sons. Another son, Berman Bernays (1826–1879), was the father of Martha Bernays (1861–1951), the wife of Sigmund Freud . Edward Bernays was his great grandson. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was his student.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Israel Bach: Jacob Bernays: a contribution to the emancipation history of the Jews and the history of the German spirit in the nineteenth century . Mohr Siebeck, 1974, ISBN 978-3-16-835142-9 ( com.ph [accessed September 15, 2019]).
- ↑ Herz Bamberger, History of the Rabbis of the City and District of Würzburg , Simon Bamberger (ed., Comp.), Wandsbek: Goldschmidt, 1905, p. 65. Omissions and additions in square brackets not in the original.
- ↑ Monika Richarz : The entry of the Jews into the academic professions. Jewish students and academics in Germany 1678-1848. With a foreword by Adolf Leschnitzer . Series of scientific papers by the Leo Baeck Institute , 1974. p. 199
- ↑ Eveline Goodman-Thau, Gert Mattenklott, Christoph Schulte: Kabbalah and romanticism: The Jewish mysticism in romantic intellectual history . Walter de Gruyter, 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-094460-0 ( com.ph [accessed September 15, 2019]).
- ↑ Eveline Goodman-Thau, Gert Mattenklott, Christoph Schulte: Kabbalah and romanticism: The Jewish mysticism in romantic intellectual history . Walter de Gruyter, 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-094460-0 ( com.ph [accessed September 15, 2019]).
- ↑ Hans Israel Bach: Jacob Bernays: a contribution to the emancipation history of the Jews and the history of the German spirit in the nineteenth century . Mohr Siebeck, 1974, ISBN 978-3-16-835142-9 ( com.ph [accessed September 15, 2019]).
- ↑ BIBLE ORIENT, DER - JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved September 17, 2019 .
literature
- E. Duckesz: On the biography of Chacham Isaak Bernays. Yearbook of the Jewish-Literary Society 5 (1907), pp. 297–322
- Andreas Brämer : Judaism and religious reform. The Hamburg Israelitische Tempel 1817–1938. Dölling and Gallitz Verlag, Hamburg 2000
- Andreas Brämer: Isaak Bernays. In: Das Jüdische Hamburg , published by the Institute for the History of German Jews. Göttingen 2006
- Bernays, Isaac. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 2: Bend Bins. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-598-22682-9 , pp. 233-235.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bernays, Isaac |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German rabbi |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 29, 1792 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mainz -Weisenau |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 1, 1849 |
| Place of death | Hamburg |